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The Double Life of Walter F. White and America's Darkest Secret
by A. J. Baime
A riveting biography of Walter F. White, a little-known Black civil rights leader who passed for white in order to investigate racist murders, help put the NAACP on the map, and change the racial identity of America forever
Walter F. White led two lives: one as a leader of the Harlem Renaissance and the NAACP in the early twentieth century; the other as a white newspaperman who covered lynching crimes in the Deep South at the blazing height of racial violence. Born mixed race and with very fair skin and straight hair, White was able to "pass" for white. He leveraged this ambiguity as a reporter, bringing to light the darkest crimes in America and helping to plant the seeds of the civil rights movement. White's risky career led him to lead a double life. He was simultaneously a second-class citizen subject to Jim Crow laws at home and a widely respected professional with full access to the white world at work. His life was fraught with internal and external conflict—much like the story of race in America. Starting out as an obscure activist, White ultimately became Black America's most prominent leader. A character study of White's life and career with all these complexities has never been rendered, until now.
By the award-winning, best-selling author of The Accidental President, Dewey Defeats Truman, and The Arsenal of Democracy, White Lies uncovers the life of a civil rights leader unlike any other.
"Historian Baime delivers a captivating portrait of civil rights activist and novelist Walter White (1893–1955) and the fight to end anti-Black violence and racial discrimination in the U.S...Filled with vibrant period details and lucid explanations of legal and political matters, this is a riveting portrait of a complex and courageous crusader for racial equality." - Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"The author brings us directly into White's fascinating world...A well-constructed life of a man who, largely forgotten, deserves pride of place in civil rights history." - Kirkus Reviews
"Baime tells White's story with verve, clarity, and perspicacity. The result holds its own with more scholarly biographies of White from Kenneth Janken (2003) and Robert Zangrando and Ronald Lewis (2019). A riveting profile of a little-studied Black civil rights leader." - Library Journal
"A. J. Baime is a master storyteller and this is his finest work—a thrilling story and a stunning, smart, invaluable piece of American history that helps us better understand a forgotten hero and better understand the question of race in America. An extraordinary book." - Jonathan Eig, New York Times best-selling author of Ali: A Life
"White Lies, A. J. Baime's well-researched and riveting biography of Walter F. White, should be required reading not only for NAACP leaders across America, but for any student of US history and Black leaders in the fight for civil rights. This book is a profound accounting of a pivotal time in our nation and of a man who helped shape its course. Far too many people have never heard of Walter. Or they only know precious little of his contributions to the cause. Now, no one has any excuse." - Richard Rose, president, Atlanta branch of the NAACP
This information about White Lies was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
A.J. Baime is the New York Times bestselling author of The Accidental President: Harry S. Truman and the Four Months that Changed the World (2017); The Arsenal of Democracy: FDR, Detroit, and an Epic Quest to Arm an America at War (2014); Go Like Hell: Ford, Ferrari, and Their Battle for Speed and Glory at Le Mans (2009); and Dewey Defeats Truman: The 1948 Election and the Battle for America's Soul (2019). Baime is a longtime regular contributor to the Wall Street Journal, and his articles have also appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, and numerous other publications.
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